I have been asked to re-sequence my log entries into a first-to-last chronological order to make them easier to follow.A few related photos have been placed within the text. Clicking on any one of these photos will open a new window containing thumbnails of many others taken during the cruise. Note too that these photos are in chronological order and those images close to the thumbnail of the image you clicked to get there will have been taken during the same period as it was. I also took the opportunity to make some clarifications and correct some of the more noticeable errors.Any of the crew members reading this may also add additional notes as comments.In fact, comments by anyone are always welcome.Note that the over 100 photos taken during this cruise can be found in my Flickr Album Set titled “Bahamas – 2008”. If you are interested, Links to earlier cruises can be found under the “My Trip Logs” heading in the left column. (scroll down a ways…)

5/07/08 – Leave Tampa

We finally leave on this year’s adventure and proceed to navigate our way out of Tampa Bay under near ideal weather conditions.Its 8:30am when we leave the dock and after a sea test of a reconditioned auto pilot unit, we conclude something is still wrong as it’s not working as it should.As we continue the trip down the Bay, Tommy makes a call to Ray Marine for further instructions.Following a brief troubleshooting session, it is concluded that we have a defective Rudder Reference Transducer and one is placed on order for overnight delivery to Plantation Marina near Islamorada in the Keys.If all goes well we should arrive there tomorrow evening.Our destination tonight is Pelican Bay just inside Boca Grande Pass north of Fort Myers.As we proceed south along the west coast of Florida, Ralph is driving when he notices that the oil pressure gage for the port engine is showing a significantly lower value than does the starboard engine.Tommy decides to stop and check out the oil levels and finds that the port engine is down a couple of quarts… unexpected as Duke, the boats mechanic, had just serviced and checked out the engines a few days earlier in preparation for this trip.A cursory inspection showed no real evidence of a leak and since the pressure returned to normal after adding the oil, we continued our trip keeping a close watch on the oil pressure gages.We arrive in Pelican Bay around 1800 hrs to join a fleet of several other boats, mostly sailboats, already at anchor.Bahama Mamas are congered up while I fix boiled franks, sauerkraut and (I know) coleslaw for supper.The winds are near calm and we have a nice evening enjoying the sunset before retiring for the evening.

5/8/08 – Pelican Bay & Gasparilla Marina to Naples

We arise with the sun… everyone is psyched for the trip.During the regular morning routine of servicing the engines, Tommy finds that the port engine is once again low on oil… three quarts this time.Seems we may really have a problem.While the engines are cool, Tommy crawls behind the port side and finds a high pressure oil line that is leaking.Not a catastrophic break but a leak none the less… big enough to cause 3 quarts to dump into the bilge in about 3 hours running time.We have a problem… something that will need immediate attention.Following several telephone calls to local marinas and the engine manufacturer, we proceed to motor on one engine into Gasparilla Marina about ten miles north of us at Placida.There we find a mechanic that is able to get a replacement hose built for us in Puntagorda and mount it.He also has two spare hoses built as back-ups.After repairs and refueling, we leave the marina around 1440 and cruise south and arrive at Naples just at dusk where we find a cozy little cove and gunk out for the night.We had hoped to be in the Keys tonight but this will have to do.This is turning into a little more of a “shake-down” cruise than we had hoped for…

5/9/08 – Naples to Plantation Key

Another early rising…This morning, everything goes as planned and we are under way by 0630.This mornings engine inspection shows all oil levels normal and we leave for a long run to the middle Keys in an attempt to regain some of our schedule.The trip is uneventful and we arrive at Plantation Marina around 1500 in plenty of time to pick up the part we had delivered to their office before they closed for the evening.After a leisurely dinner at a nearby pub, we return to the boat where Tommy and Bill spend several hours installing the rudder position transducer only to discover that it probably wasn’t the cause of our auto pilot problem in the first place.Oh well… looks as though we will be manually steering the boat this trip.Tomorrow, weather permitting; we will be crossing from Plantation Key directly to Bimini.

5/10/08 – Plantation Key to Bimini

By 0730 the crew is up and we get under way.The morning weather is calm and we need only fuel the boat before starting across the Gulf Stream to Bimini.Fuel will be a problem this trip.Each trip to the fuel pumps relives us of at least $1,000 in cash.Plantation Marina is undergoing major upgrades and currently do not have a fuel dock so we motor to Smugglers Marina to fuel and load up on ice.We enter the Atlantic around 0930 and away we go.The seas are like a mill pond… not a ripple.If it holds, this will be the calmest Gulf Stream crossing I have ever been party to.Many times when we cross the Stream, we hook into one or more good fish.Not this time though.With seas still calm enough for a canoe, we enter Bimini harbor and tie up at Bimini Bluewater Marina about 1600 hours.Ralph works his wonder once again and Bahama Mamas are enjoyed by all before a great dinner at the Bimini Big Game Club restaurant.The conch fritters and conch chowder were particularly good.Everyone crashed when we returned to the boat.

5/11/08 – Fishing off Bimini

You will note that the title of this entry is “Fishing”… not “Catching”.Today was definitely a “Fishing” day.Like good fishermen, we depart the marina early and proceed north deciding to troll out to Isaac Rock Lighthouse.The wind is light when we leave port but will gradually increases becoming quite stiff by the time we return to port around 1500.1 Blue Runner, 5 small barracuda and 5 disappointed fishermen…That just about sums it up.We have dinner at the Anchorage Restaurant on a hill overlooking the Gulf Stream.The food is good with Cracked Conch being my choice.It was a large portion which I had trouble finishing.We return to the boat and a couple of us take advantage of the marina’s swimming pool to cool off before retiring for the night.

5/12/08 – Bimini

We awake to a brisk wind coming from the south west.Flags are standing straight and shaking their masts.To the east are seen flashes of lightning.Not a good sign for our planned trip south to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands.The captain decides that this will be a “stay-in-port” day.A disappointment to the frustrated fishermen, one and all, but probably the best decision none the less.We have been traveling for several days now and it really is time to do some laundry.As the day progresses, this decision to remain in port is reinforced when boat after boat come to dock with harrowing stories of the treacherous seas outside the harbor. We also use the opportunity to do some housekeeping and one final attempt to get the auto pilot working.A call to Ray Marine using a local wi-fi connection and Skype determines without doubt that the head unit that Tommy sent them for repair before out cruise still has a problem… something that will require its being returned to their factory for further repair.

5/13/08 – Bimini to Chub Cay

Over night the winds have abated…A light breeze from the north greets us as we arise shortly after dawn.Since we had refueled following our fishing day off Bimini, and since ww had settled our dock bill yesterday evening, we motor out the harbor a little before 0700 and head south to the Gun/Cat Cay pass in route to Chub Cay.Though we troll we have no strikes until we are well east of the pass in the middle of the Grand Bahama Banks where we hook and release a decent sized barracuda.Seems that’s all we can catch this trip.Around 1300 we exit the Banks and enter the deeper waters of the “Pocket” west of, but near Chub Cay where recent reports indicate good catches of Dolphin Fish (Mahi-Mahi).There are several other boats fishing the area, but by 1630 we have yet to get a strike so we decide to call it quits and head to fine safe anchorage for the evening somewhere near Chub Cay Club.We do not plan on staying in the club’s marina this year as we have heard that following a major overhaul last year, their dockage rates are now sky high.

5/14/08 – Chub Cay

As the sun rises above the horizon we cruise out of our anchorage behind Chub Cay and head once again in search of fish in the “Pocket”.We find a large number of birds hovering and diving but can see no fish slashing the water.In a three hours fishing, we land onlt 2 Cero Mackerel and several barracuda.Not really a successful mornings fishing so we decide to head east again and troll our way to Nassau. Thirty minutes east of Chub Cay on the way to Nassau, we finally catch our first Mahi-Mahi.It’s only about a fifteen pound cow, but the ice has been broken.Perhaps our luck is changing for the better.There is a ragged weed line that we attempt to follow north but it soon becomes too disorganized to fish effectively.As the day has progressed the wind has freshened to the point where we decide we had better fish this area and spend another night at Chub.As we turn and head back toward Chub, Bill has a heavy strike and the fight is on.This fish acts different from the others… it seems much bigger as it strips out many yards of line.After several long runs, Bill is finally able to gain some of his line back.Suddenly, after another long run this fish becomes very easy to haul in.As it nears the boat we see why.Only half the fish remains.Something (shark?) has bitten off the tail half of the fish which turns out to be a Wahoo.Even though it is half gone, there remains enough of the fish for us to have for supper with some left over.We have another quite night anchored off Chub Cay.

5/15/08 Chub Cay to Nassau

Another early start… this time we intend to troll from Chub Cay into Nassau.Early on, we hook and land another Mahi-Mahi.The seas aren’t as choppy as they were yesterday but the closer we get to Nassau, the bigger the swells become.As we near the shores of Providence Island, the location of Nassau, we can see these big “rollers” crashing onto the beach and surrounding reefs.It reminds one of the Hawaiian surf we have all seen in videos and movies.We would find out that these were twelve foot rollers being caused by some disturbance farther north along the US mainland coast.Anyway, this is the first time any of us have “surfed” into Nassau harbor. We rode a wave in right between the red and green buoys where, on the outside of each, there was nothing but breaking twelve foot high waves.Exhilarating for the moment… We find dockage at the Nassau Harbour Club where we have stayed on previous visits to Nassau.It is early so we use the time to do a little grocery and tackle shopping.For supper, we walk to a nearby Outback Steak House.We all return to the Arcon and call it an early night.Tomorrow we will be heading across the Yellow Banks for the Exumas and Highborne Cay to start what we expect to be the most exciting fishing part of this cruise.

5/16/08 Nassau to Highborne Cay

The trip across the Yellow Banks is uneventful.When we arrive in the vicinity of Highborne Cay, Tommy radios the marina to ensure we can reserve a slip for the night and we exit through the pass and start fishing.The fishing is unexpectedly slow.We catch only one Cero Mackerel before going to dock at around 1700.As we arrived we noted the boat docked near us was unloading a decent catch of Mahi-Mahi.He suggests that we should spend our time trolling along the 200 feet deep line just outside the drop off and to use Ballyhoo trolling at about 7 knots.He is even willing to sell us some of his frozen Ballyhoo for tomorrow’s fishing.In addition, he gave us enough Mahi-Mahi filets for tonight’s supper.

5/17/08 Thru 5/19/08 – Highborne Cay

It’s Saturday, and we are the second boat out of the marina.Just outside the pass, we hook into our first fish of the day.It’s a nice Mahi-Mahi cow and she makes it into the fish box.In quick succession we hang, and loose several others.Most throwing the hook during their aerial acrobats but some lost due to broken lines and leaders.There was one fish of note, a very large Mahi-Mahi hooked by Tommy that very quickly stripped out several hundred yards of line while giving spectacular leaps skyward.This was truly a monster that would have tipped the scales well above the 40 pound mark.Following a 30 minute battle, with hardly any recovery of line possible, he finally breaks the line during one of his jumps.It was a beautiful bull that will live to fight another day.By 1300, we have limited out for the day.Two Mahi-Mahi and four large Cero Mackerel…one weighing in at twelve pounds is the total catch for the day.We fish the waters around Highborne Cay for the next several days and limit-out each day with several large Mahi-Mahi and large Cero Mackerel.Absent so far this year, are the Marlin and Tuna we usually catch.We do land and release several Bonita and, of course, the ever present Barracuda.Highborne Cay is a beautiful, quiet little island.It is a private island with the club marina and supporting personnel its only permanent residences.Everyone we meet here is friendly and we are made to feel welcome.The island is located 35 miles southeast of Nassau and is the most northern inhabited island in the Exuma Chain.

5/20/08 – Highborne Cay to Nassau

As much fun as we have had, there comes a time when we must start our return home.Today we will fish our way back to Nassau where we will lay over for a full day of sightseeing.Before we enter the shallow waters of the Yellow Bank, two additional large Mahi and one Cero Mackerel are added to the fishbox.We arrive at Nassau Harbour Club’s dock around 1300 and spend the remainder of the afternoon doing laundry and just relaxing.We walk down to a Chinese restaurant a few blocks from the docks for dinner before retiring for the night.

5/22/08 – 5/23/08 Nassau to Hoffman Cay then Back to Nassau

Though we are away from the dock early, it is 0800 before we cruise out of the harbor.This is the Bahamas and one must remember that everyone here is on “island time”.Fifteen minutes after pulling up to the first fuel dock we find out that they have no diesel.This after they passed the hose aboard and a failed attempt on our part to pump fuel…We also purchase several bags of their $7.50/bag ice to find that their 3 foot high sign advertising the price is wrong and the actual price for the past year is $12/bag.We then proceed to a second fuel dock and here have to wait another 20 minutes for the attendant to show up and figure out how to start the pumps.So much for an early start…

Before we loose sight of Nassau, we have our first fish on board.It is a large Mahi and the first of several that would make up the best day of fishing we have had so far this trip.Between Nassau and Hoffman’s Cay, one of the Berry Islands, we run into a large area of ocean covered by tennis court sized patches of floating grass.There seems to be large numbers of very big Mahi under each of these and we hang into many of them.Early, around 1300, we have our limit of fish and head for our anchorage behind Hoffman’s Cay.We anchored at this spot several years ago and Tommy wanted to show Bill the “Blue Hole” that’s located on Hoffman’s Cay.A blue hole is a deep, cavernous, land locked hole connected underground to the ocean.This one on Hoffman’s Cay is probably three, four hundred feet across with no bottom in sight.This also gives us a chance to use the inflatable boat we have with us for the first time this trip.Tommy and Bill launch the boat, attach the small outboard motor, check the fuel and set out for the island.It takes them a couple of landings before they find the path to the blue hole.On the trip back from their visit to the blue hole, the boys find out that just because you can see fuel in an outboard motor’s fuel tank doesn’t mean there is enough fuel to complete a trip.They run out of gas just after leaving shore to return to the Arcon.Here they are, behind the island and over a mile away from the boat in the grips of a raging, sea going current.Out come the oars and very quickly they learn that these small oars are not sufficient to fight these strong currents.One step forward and three steps back.Bill jumps overboard and pulls the raft to shallow water where they both wade and pull the boat over the shallow reef dodging rays and other denizens of the deep.Two hours later, tired and rattled, and minus one oar, they make it back to the boat.Memories are made of this…It is a quiet evening following all this excitement.We have a simple supper of hot dogs, sauerkraut and baked beans before turning in.

The weather report indicates that a cold front is expected to pass over Nassau Saturday night and there will be high seas over the Gulf Stream for the next several days.Tommy decides to return to Nassau to wait it out and to let Col. Bill fly home as the chance now of us reaching Tampa by the 27th, Bill’s deadline for a previous engagement, is remote.We will have a couple of additional days in Nassau to unwind.

5/28/08 – Nassau to Bimini – Homeward Bound

Following a disastrous attempt at motoring to Lucaya (Freeport) yesterday, we are docked at Bimini Bluewater Marina and hope to cross the Gulf Stream tomorrow for Florida. Yesterday morning when we left Nassau, it was breezy but the seas were tolerable. We decided to head for Lucaya and spend an extra day or two in the Bahamas before returning home. However, the wind and seas picked up to an uncomfortable level and we ducked back into our anchorage of a few nights ago behind Hoffman’s Cay.

There we had a rough night but safe anchorage. By this morning, the wind had calmed and we decided to head directly for Bimini instead of spending extra days in Freeport. We arrived in Bimini around 1630 and hopefully will be able to get a good nights sleep tonight. Last night was spent being tossed around on the floor trying to fight the roll of the boat.

6/03/08 – Back Home in Tampa

We arrive Back at the docks at Tampa Bay Marina around 1730 Saturday afternoon. Our cruise from Bimini to Plantation Key, while not quite as calm as our trip out, was none the less comfortable. It also produced two additional nice fish.

A beautiful Wahoo caught by Ralph and a large Mahi caught by Tommy. Both were taken in the Gulf Stream. The remainder of the return trip to Tampa was uneventful. We spent one night at Plantation Key and another at anchor in a bayou near Naples before cruising up Tampa Bay to our home port. It was a great adventure, but after almost a month away, it is great to be back home. I have uploaded the final photos from the cruise to my Flickr site. Titles have also been added to each photo.

Enjoy!

=====================================

This is the end of this re-sequenced log… Below here are the original writings posted during the cruise with the most recent postings on top and the older postings below. The above post is just a re-sequencing of these posts going back through the May 16, 2008 entry.

We arrive Back at the docks at Tampa Bay Marina around 1730 Saturday afternoon. Our cruise from Bimini to Plantation Key, while not quite as calm as our trip out, was none the less comfortable. It also produced two additional nice fish. A beautiful Wahoo caught by Ralph and a large Mahi caught by Tommy. Both were taken in the Gulf Stream. The remainder of the return trip to Tampa was uneventful. We spent one night at Plantation Key and another at anchor in a bayou near Naples before cruising up Tampa Bay to our home port. It was a great adventure, but after almost a month away, it is great to be back home. I have uploaded the final photos from the cruise to my Flickr site. Titles have also been added to each photo.

Following a disastrous attempt at motoring to Lucaya (Freeport) yesterday, we are docked at Bimini Bluewater Marina and hope to cross the Gulf Stream tomorrow for Florida. Yesterday morning when we left Nassau, it was breezy but the seas were tolerable. We decided to head for Lucaya and spend an extra day or two in the Bahamas before returning home. However, halfway to the Berry Islands which is on the route out of Nassau, the wind and seas picked up to an uncomfortable level and we ducked back into our anchorage of a few nights ago behind Hoffman’s Cay. There we had a rough night but safe anchorage. By this morning, the wind had calmed and we decided to head directly for Bimini instead of the extra days in Freeport. We arrived in Bimini around 1630 and hopefully will be able to get a good nights sleep tonight. Last night was spent rolling around on the floor trying to fight the roll of the boat. There are some new photos, but not good enough of a connection to upload them tonight… later.

We’re still here… after one night’s absence that is. New photos have been added to my Flickr Album. Read about it here in my continuing log:

5/22/08 – 5/23/08 Nassau to Hoffman Cay then Back to Nassau

Though we are away from the dock early, it is 0800 before we cruise out of the harbor.This is the Bahamas and one must remember that everyone here is on “island time”.Fifteen minutes after pulling up to the first fuel dock we find out that they have no diesel.This after they passed the hose aboard and a failed attempt on our part to pump fuel…We also purchase several bags of their $7.50/bag ice to find that their 3 foot high sign advertising the price is wrong and the actual price for the past year is $12/bag.We then proceed to a second fuel dock and here have to wait another 20 minutes for the attendant to show up and figure out how to start the pumps.So much for an early start…

Before we loose sight of Nassau, we have our first fish on board.It is a large Mahi and the first of several that would make up the best day of fishing we have had so far this trip.Between Nassau and Hoffman’s Cay, one of the Berry Islands, we run into a large area of ocean covered by tennis court sized patches of floating grass.There seems to be large numbers of very big Mahi under each of these and we hang into many of them.Early, around 1300, we have our limit of fish and head for our anchorage behind Hoffman’s Cay.We anchored at this spot several years ago and Tommy wanted to show Bill the “Blue Hole” that’s located on Hoffman’s Cay.A blue hole is a deep, cavernous, land locked hole connected underground to the ocean.This one on Hoffman’s Cay is probably three, four hundred feet across with no bottom in sight.This also gives us a chance to use the inflatable boat we have with us for the first time this trip.They launch the boat, attach the small outboard motor, check the fuel and set out for the island.It takes them a couple of landings before they find the path to the blue hole.On the trip back from their visit to the blue hole, the boys find out that just because you can see fuel in an outboard motor’s fuel tank that doesn’t mean there is enough fuel to run the engine.They run out of gas just after leaving shore to return to the Arcon.Here they are, behind the island and over a mile away from the boat in the grips of a raging, sea going current.Out come the oars and very quickly they learn that these small oars are not sufficient to fight these strong currents.One step forward and three steps back.Bill jumps overboard and pulls the raft to shallow water where they both wade and pull the boat over the shallow reef dodging rays and other denizens of the deep.Two hours later, tired and rattled, and minus one oar, they make it back to the boat.Memories are made of this…It is a quiet evening.We have a simple supper of hot dogs, sauerkraut and baked beans before turning in.

The weather report indicates that a cold front is expected to pass over Nassau Saturday night and there will be high seas over the Gulf Stream for the next several days.Tommy decides to return to Nassau to wait it out and to let Col. Bill fly home as the chance now of us reaching Tampa by the 27th, Bill’s deadline for a previous engagement, is remote.We will have a couple of additional days in Nassau to unwind.

We are spending the day in port at Nassau… doing laundry, general house cleaning and some sightseeing. Here are my latest log entries:

5/14/08 – Chub Cay

As the sun rises above the horizon we cruise out of our anchorage behind Chub Cay and head once again in search of fish in the “Pocket”.We find a large number of birds hovering and diving but can see no fish slashing the water.In a three hours fishing, we land onlt 2 Cero Mackerel and several barracuda.Not really a successful mornings fishing so we decide to head east again and troll our way to Nassau. Thirty minutes east of Chub Cay on the way to Nassau, we finally catch our first Mahi-Mahi.It’s only about a fifteen pound cow, but the ice has been broken.Perhaps our luck is changing for the better.There is a ragged weed line that we attempt to follow north but it soon becomes too disorganized to fish effectively.As the day has progressed the wind has freshened to the point where we decide we had better fish this area and spend another night at Chub.As we turn and head back toward Chub, Bill has a heavy strike and the fight is on.This fish acts different from the others… it seems much bigger as it strips out many yards of line.After several long runs, Bill is finally able to gain some of his line back.Suddenly, after another long run this fish becomes very easy to haul in.As it nears the boat we see why.Only half the fish remains.Something (shark?) has bitten off the tail half of the fish which turns out to be a Wahoo.Even though it is half gone, there remains enough of the fish for us to have for supper with some left over.We have another quite night anchored off Chub Cay.

5/15/08 Chub Cay to Nassau

Another early start… this time we intend to troll from Chub Cay into Nassau.Early on, we hook and land another Mahi-Mahi.The seas aren’t as choppy as they were yesterday but the closer we get to Nassau, the bigger the swells become.As we near the shores of Providence Island, the location of Nassau, we can see these big “rollers” crashing onto the beach and surrounding reefs.It reminds one of the Hawaiian surf we have all seen in videos and movies.We would find out that these were twelve foot rollers being caused by some disturbance farther north along the US mainland coast.Anyway, this is the first time any of us have “surfed” into Nassau harbor. We rode a wave in right between the red and green buoys where, on the outside of each, there was nothing but breaking twelve foot high waves.Exhilarating for the moment… We find dockage at the Nassau Harbour Club where we have stayed on previous visits to Nassau.It is early so we use the time to do a little grocery and tackle shopping.For supper, we walk to a nearby Outback Steak House.We all return to the Arcon and call it an early night.Tomorrow we will be heading across the Yellow Banks for the Exumas and Highborne Cay to start what we expect to be the most exciting fishing part of this cruise.When we arrive in the vicinity of Highborne Cay, Tommy radios the marina to ensure we can reserve a slip for the night and we exit through the pass and start fishing.The fishing is unexpectedly slow.We catch only one Cero Mackerel before going to dock at around 1700.As we arrived we noted the boat docked near us was unloading a decent catch of Mahi-Mahi.He suggests that we should spend our time trolling along the 200 feet deep line just outside the drop off and to use Ballyhoo trolling at about 7 knots.He is even willing to sell us someof his frozen Ballyhoo for tomorrow’s fishing.In addition, he gave us enough Mahi-Mahi filets for tonight’s supper.

5/16/08 Thru 5/19/08 – Highborne Cay

It’s Saturday, and we are the second boat out of the marina.Just outside the pass, we hook into our first fish of the day.It’s a nice Mahi-Mahi cow and she makes it into the fish box.In quick succession we hang, and loose several others.Most throwing the hook during their aerial acrobats but some lost due to broken lines and leaders.There was one fish of note, a very large Mahi-Mahi hooked by Tommy that very quickly stripped out several hundred yards of line while giving spectacular leaps skyward.This was truly a monster that would have tipped the scales well above the 40 pound mark.Following a 30 minute battle, with hardly any recovery of line possible, he finally breaks the line during one of his jumps.It was a beautiful bull that will live to fight another day.By 1300, we have limited out for the day.Two Mahi-Mahi and four large Cero Mackerel…one weighing in at twelve pounds is the total catch for the day.We fish the waters around Highborne Cay for the next several days and limit-out each day with several large Mahi-Mahi and large Cero Mackerel.Absent so far this year, are the Marlin and Tuna we usually catch.We do land and release several Bonita and, of course, the ever present Barracuda.Highborne Cay is a beautiful, quiet little island.It is a private island with the club marina and supporting personnel its only permanent residences.Everyone we meet here is friendly and we are made to feel welcome.The island is located 35 miles southeast of Nassau and is the most northern inhabited island in the Exuma Chain.

5/20/08 – Highborne Cay to Nassau

As much fun as we have had, there comes a time when we must start our return home.Today we will fish our way back to Nassau where we will lay over for a full day of sightseeing.Before we enter the shallow waters of the Yellow Bank, two more large Mahi and one Cero Mackerel are added to the fishbox.We arrive at Nassau Harbour Club’s dock around 1300 and spend the remainder of the afternoon doing laundry and just relaxing.We walk down to a Chinese restaurant a few blocks from the docks for dinner before retiring for the night.

We arrived here yesterday and I will be putting together more details in future posts. We have caught more fish and tonight will be joining other guests at the marina here for a big BBQ fish fry this evening. Following are additions to the log for the past few days… The photo at left shows some of the sharks that hang around the fish cleaning station at the Highborne Cay Club Marina. More photos can be found on my Flickr site under the “Bahamas – 2008” Set. Link to Flicker can be found in the left column… (scroll down)

5/14/08 – Chub Cay

As the sun rises above the horizon we cruise out of our anchorage behind Chub Cay and head once again in search of fish in the “Pocket”.We find a large number of birds hovering and diving but can see no fish slashing the water.In a three hours fishing, we land onlt 2 Cero Mackerel and several barracuda.Not really a successful mornings fishing so we decide to head east again and troll our way to Nassau. Thirty minutes east of Chub Cay on the way to Nassau, we finally catch our first Mahi-Mahi.It’s only about a fifteen pound cow, but the ice has been broken.Perhaps our luck is changing for the better.There is a ragged weed line that we attempt to follow north but it soon becomes too disorganized to fish effectively.As the day has progressed the wind has freshened to the point where we decide we had better fish this area and spend another night at Chub.As we turn and head back toward Chub, Bill has a heavy strike and the fight is on.This fish acts different from the others… it seems much bigger as it strips out many yards of line.After several long runs, Bill is finally able to gain some of his line back.Suddenly, after another long run this fish becomes very easy to haul in.As it nears the boat we see why.Only half the fish remains.Something (shark?) has bitten off the tail half of the fish which turns out to be a Wahoo.Even though it is half gone, there remains enough of the fish for us to have for supper with some left over.We have another quite night anchored off Chub Cay.

5/15/08 Chub Cay to Nassau

Another early start… this time we intend to troll from Chub Cay into Nassau.Early on, we hook and land another Mahi-Mahi.The seas aren’t as choppy as they were yesterday but the closer we get to Nassau, the bigger the swells become.As we near the shores of Providence Island, the location of Nassau, we can see these big “rollers” crashing onto the beach and surrounding reefs.It reminds one of the Hawaiian surf we have all seen in videos and movies.We would find out that these were twelve foot rollers being caused by some disturbance farther north along the US mainland coast.Anyway, this is the first time any of us have “surfed” into Nassau harbor. We rode a wave in right between the red and green buoys where on outside of each was nothing but breaking twelve foot high waves.We find dockage at the Nassau Harbour Club where we have stayed on previous visits to Nassau.

We are currently sitting at the Nassau Harbor Club Marina awaiting the sun to get high enough for us to visually navigate the shallow waters between here and the Exumas. If all goes well, we will spend tonight at Highborne Cay. Today is the first time since leaving Tampa that I have had access to the internet so I will upload some of the log information I have recorded so far. It is current to only a few days ago but I will be adding more plus some photos the next time I get online.

Bahamas – 2008 Log

05/07/08 – Leave Tampa

We finally leave on this year’s adventure and proceed to navigate our way out of Tampa Bay under near ideal weather conditions.Its 8:30am when we leave the dock and after a sea test of a reconditioned auto pilot unit, we conclude something is still wrong as it’s not working as it should.As we continue the trip down the Bay, Tommy makes a call to Ray Marine for further instructions.Following a brief troubleshooting session, it is concluded that we have a defective Rudder Reference Transducer and one is placed on order for overnight delivery to Plantation Marina near Islamorada in the Keys.If all goes well we should arrive there tomorrow evening.Our destination tonight is Pelican Bay just inside Boca Grande Pass north of Fort Myers.As we proceed south along the west coast of Florida, Ralph is driving when he notices that the oil pressure gage for the port engine is showing a significantly lower value than does the starboard engine.Tommy decides to stop and check out the oil levels and finds that the port engine is down a couple of quarts… unexpected as Duke, the boats mechanic, had just serviced and checked out the engines a few days earlier in preparation for this trip.A cursory inspection showed no real evidence of a leak and since the pressure returned to normal after adding the oil, we continued our trip keeping a close watch on the oil pressure gages.We arrive in Pelican Bay around 1800 hrs to join a fleet of several other boats, mostly sailboats, already at anchor.Bahama Mamas are congered up while I fix boiled franks, sauerkraut and (I know) coleslaw for supper.The winds are near calm and we have a nice evening enjoying the sunset before retiring for the evening.

5/8/08 – Pelican Bay & Gasparilla Marina to Naples

We arise with the sun… everyone is psyched for the trip.During the regular morning routine of servicing the engines, Tommy finds that the port engine is once again low on oil… three quarts this time.Seems we may really have a problem.While the engines are cool, Tommy crawls behind the port side and finds a high pressure oil line that is leaking.Not a catastrophic break but a leak none the less… big enough to cause 3 quarts to dump into the bilge in about 3 hours running time.We have a problem… something that will need immediate attention.Following several telephone calls to local marinas and the engine manufacturer, we proceed to motor on one engine into Gasparilla Marina about ten miles north of us at Placida.There we find a mechanic that is able to get a replacement hose built for us in Puntagorda and mount it.He also has two spare hoses built as back-ups.After repairs and refueling, we leave the marina around 1440 and cruise south and arrive at Naples just at dusk where we find a cozy little cove and gunk out for the night.We had hoped to be in the Keys tonight but this will have to do.This is turning into a little more of a “shake-down” cruise than we had hoped for…

5/9/08 – Naples to Plantation Key

Another early rising…This morning, everything goes as planned and we are under way by 0630.This mornings engine inspection shows all oil levels normal and we leave for a long run to the middle Keys in an attempt to regain some of our schedule.The trip is uneventful and we arrive at Plantation Marina around 1500 in plenty of time to pick up the part we had delivered to their office before they closed for the evening.After a leisurely dinner at a nearby pub, we return to the boat where Tommy and Bill spend several hours installing the rudder position transducer only to discover that it probably wasn’t the cause of our auto pilot problem in the first place.Oh well… looks as though we will be manually steering the boat this trip.Tomorrow, weather permitting; we will be crossing from Plantation Key directly to Bimini.

5/10/08 – Plantation Key to Bimini

By 0730 the crew is up and we get under way.The morning weather is calm and we need only fuel the boat before starting across the Gulf Stream to Bimini.Fuel will be a problem this trip.Each trip to the fuel pumps relives us of at least $1,000 in cash.Plantation Marina is undergoing major upgrades and currently do not have a fuel dock so we motor to Smugglers Marina to fuel and load up on ice.We enter the Atlantic around 0930 and away we go.The seas are like a mill pond… not a ripple.If it holds, this will be the calmest Gulf Stream crossing I have ever been party to.Many times when we cross the Stream, we hook into one or more good fish.Not this time though.With seas still calm enough for a canoe, we enter Bimini harbor and tie up at Bimini Bluewater Marina about 1600 hours.Ralph works his wonder once again and Bahama Mamas are enjoyed by all before a great dinner at the Bimini Big Game Club restaurant.The conch fritters and conch chowder were particularly good.Everyone crashed when we returned to the boat.

5/11/08 – Fishing off Bimini

You will note that the title of this entry is “Fishing”… not “Catching”.Today was definitely a “Fishing” day.Like good fishermen, we depart the marina early and proceed north deciding to troll out to Isaac Rock Lighthouse.The wind is light when we leave port but will gradually increases becoming quite stiff by the time we return to port around 1500.1 Blue Runner, 5 small barracuda and 5 disappointed fishermen…That just about sums it up.We have dinner at the Anchorage Restaurant on a hill overlooking the Gulf Stream.The food is good with Cracked Conch being my choice.It was a large portion which I had trouble finishing.We return to the boat and a couple of us take advantage of the marina’s swimming pool to cool off before retiring for the night.

5/12/08 – Bimini

We awake to a brisk wind coming from the south west.Flags are standing straight and shaking their masts.To the east are seen flashes of lightning.Not a good sign for our planned trip south to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands.The captain decides that this will be a “stay-in-port” day.A disappointment to the frustrated fishermen, one and all, but probably the best decision none the less.We have been traveling for several days now and it really is time to do some laundry.As the day progresses, this decision to remain in port is reinforced when boat after boat come to dock with harrowing stories of the treacherous seas outside the harbor. We also use the opportunity to do some housekeeping and one final attempt to get the auto pilot working.A call to Ray Marine using a local wi-fi connection and Skype determines without doubt that the head unit that Tommy sent them for repair before out cruise still has a problem… something that will require its being returned to their factory for further repair.

5/13/08 – Bimini to Chub Cay

Over night the winds have abated…A light breeze from the north greets us as we arise shortly after dawn.Since we had refueled following our fishing day off Bimini, and since ww had settled our dock bill yesterday evening, we motor out the harbor a little before 0700 and head south to the Gun/Cat Cay pass in route to Chub Cay.Though we troll we have no strikes until we are well east of the pass in the middle of the Grand Bahama Banks where we hook and release a decent sized barracuda.Seems that’s all we can catch this trip.Around 1300 we exit the Banks and enter the deeper waters of the “Pocket” west of, but near Chub Cay where recent reports indicate good catches of Dolphin Fish (Mahi-Mahi).There are several other boats fishing the area, but by 1630 we have yet to get a strike so we decide to call it quits and head to fine safe anchorage for the evening somewhere near Chub Cay Club.We do not plan on staying in the club’s marina this year as we have heard that following a major overhaul last year, their dockage rates are now sky high.

Sorry about the long delay in posting something here but not much of interest has been happening with me lately. However, we are getting ready to make another fishing cruise to the Bahamas, so I thought I would take the time to look back and gather together some photos from previous trips to share with my readers. In addition to those taken in the Bahamas, I thought I might as well throw in some older fishing related photographs and provide a general collection of images relating to “Fish Catching”. These images span from the early 50’s through the present and are presented in my Flickr Set titled “It’s All About the Catch…“. Keep checking back here in the next several weeks as I hope to start updating this Blog with additional posts as we cruise through the Bahamas this year.

Here I am in St. George, Utah getting behind in my Writing…I have been here since the 15th of May and during that time we have made only one trip outside the immediate area worth writing about.Last Monday, my cousin Bing, his wife Betty and I left here and headed north.Our goal was to explore some of northern Utah east of Salt Lake City… in particular, part of the High Uintas.The overall plan was to take several days getting there and to enjoy some sightseeing and fishing on the way.Our first night, we found a small US Forest Campground in Beaver Valley about 150 miles north of St. George.This beautiful little valley follows Beaver Creek within the Fishlake National Forest and is an area we have camped and fished before but wanted to revisit.During our first night out, Bing and I both came down with something… he worse than I.He ended up spending most of the next day in the local emergency room at the hospital in Beaver getting re-hydrated.We have yet to get a final report, but possible cause was E. Coli or some other bacterial infection probably from something we ate.We stopped for dinner shortly before setting up camp and both of us had the fried fish dinner whileBetty had something different and didn’t get sick.Anyway, this kind of put a damper on our fishing for that and the next 2 days until recovered enough to continue our adventure.We did check out Little Reservoir Lake late the second evening and noted a very healthy fish feed in progress but were still not feeling well enough to break out the rods.Our next stop was at a small Utah State Campground north of Provo near Heber City.We were still in recovery mode and, instead of fishing the Provo River as we had intended, we just sort of previewed the area.There was no lack of fishermen but no one seemed to be catching.One fisherman we talked to said they had just increased the water flow from the Jordanelle Dam and the change in water flow and temperature had put the fish down.“Come back next week when they reduce the flow back to normal if you want fish…”Near our campsite, there was a small, unpublicized and unimprovedhot spring my cousin was familiar with.It was less than 5 minutes from the trailer and was a key reason in our selection of that campsite.It is a crystal clear spring bordering a swampy area with a water temperature bordering on “Too Hot” for me.A local said she thought the water temperature to be about 115 deg. F.Bing thought it great but then again he has spent time in Japan where such things are the norm.We spent 2 nights here before moving on into what would be virgin territory for all three of us… the High Uintas.Leaving Kamas, taking State Highway 150, we traveled “up” some 25 miles to a recommended campground on Washington Lake in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.This was recommended to us by a Forest Ranger when we stopped to purchase a recreation pass to the area.At over 10,000 feet, this campground is the highest any of us has ever stayed in.It is actually above the Aspen, into the Lodge Pole Pines, and just below the Alpine Fields… absolutely beautiful country.We arrive on a Saturday and are unable to get a site directly on the lake shore, but did get a high site with a view of the lake just next to a small frog pond.All around us there were patches of still unmelted snow and a profusion of small wild flowers of varying colors just bursting forth plus a large population of frogs in the pond that kept us well serenaded during our entire stay.The following view will give you an idea of the camp area.

Washington Lake is at the bottom and, our campground (newly constructed), while not shown, was at the upper end of the lake between Washington Lake and the slightly lower altitude Trial Lake north of it.The small lake just above Washington is Crystal Lake where we spend some time fishing… beautiful but not yielding many fish to us.We probably would have done better if we had revisited it after learning some of the tricks we developed later that same day.That afternoon, we drove up to Mirror Lake, a few miles east, to check out the scenery.Betty elects to stay with the trailer as she was not feeling well.Mirror Lake is just the other side of the highest pass on SR 150 and the vista getting to it was spectacular.After walking along the shoreline a short distance, noting several fish being caught, we decide to break out our rods and give a try in the small stream flowing out of the lake.We could see many nice trout, including several albino trout, in the 12-15 inch class with no other fishermen seeming interested as they were concentrating on fishing the lake itself.It turned out to be a great decision on our part…Almost from the first cast, these fish were fighting to get on our lines.In no time we were catching and releasing trout with almost every cast.Before returning to camp we probably caught forty or so trout… many in the 12-14 inch size range.It was undoubtedly the most trout I have ever caught using a fly rod without moving more than 5 feet from where I started fishing.Outstanding!

We returned to camp well before dark to find Betty feeling worse than when we left.The camp host suggested that her problem was probably related to altitude sickness and offered the use of an oxygen tank to see if that would help.According to the host, this is not uncommon at this altitude.After using the oxygen for a couple of hours, Betty lost her nausea and most of the headache she had and decided she wanted to stay on and not move to a lower camp.It truly was a beautiful site.The next morning she was feeling well enough to ride with us back to Mirror Lake for more fishing action.Another day of extraordinary fishing…I know that between us, we must have caught and released a hundred or more fish.Bing found himself actually changing fly patterns trying to find something they wouldn’t hit so eagerly without much success.Once again, we stop fishing while the fish are still hungry and return to camp.By this time Betty was once again having problems with the altitude.Before dark, Bing decides to try his luck in a small stream where it emptied into Washington Lake just 50 yards or so from the trailer.Luck once again is good and he keeps 4 small fish for breakfast.The next morning, however, we decide to head back south and save the trout for later.Cloudy skies, windy conditions and news from other campers that there was a storm system moving in, with forecasted snow for the high country, help make our decision.We elect to travel directly back to St. George without stopping for another night or two on the way home.As it was, we fought a very strong wind the entire trip home.After a good nights sleep and return to the desert, Betty is feeling much better.I have posted several of the photos we took on the trip on my Picasa Album Site.

Several people have asked me to reorder my posts on our cruise so that it would be easier to read. This should work:

Try this link which reverses all my posts that reference the Bahamas. However, in this order, my first post refers to an earlier cruise. For the 2006 cruise, start reading the second post down and note that when you get to the bottom, clicking on “older posts” will actually continue to the next part of the story.